1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of fishing equipment. More particularly, it pertains to a fishing lure for use with a fishing rod and reel and fishing line and has the unique ability to allow fish parts, cheese, fish eggs, worms and other such bait to be used with the lure to aid in attracting fish to the lure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many ways to catch a fish, i.e., netting or trapping, poisoning, harpooning, stabbing, and using a rod, reel, and fishing line with lures to catch them. By far the most humane, but not necessarily the most efficient method, is to tow a lure through the water that mimics something fish may want to eat and, once bitten, impales the fish""s mouth on a fish hook that is attached to the lure. Thus, the American sport of xe2x80x9cfishingxe2x80x9d.
There are many types of fishing lures. There is the fly or streamer, which is a small hairy or feathery device that resembles the bugs and other insects that fall into the water and which fish like to eat. There are plugs, which are larger devices made of plastic or wood that are shaped and painted to resemble a fish or other aquatic inhabitant that larger fish desire to eat. There are spinners, which are generally small assemblies of wire, blades, trinkets and other elements that flash as they are pulled through the water to excite the fish into believing that smaller fish are inhabiting the local area around where the larger fish are gathered to feed.
With some lures, an added measure of success is achieved by attaching a piece of another, real fish (xe2x80x9cbaitxe2x80x9d) to the lure so that the blood, serum, scales, eggs, and other body elements and scents that attract fish, may be subjected to the flow of water over the element to elute these fish attractants into the water to attract the fish at a greater level than that of the visual appearance of the lure in the water.
For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,376, a fishing lure is disclosed wherein worms and frogs may be impaled on fish hooks and used as bait and the lines leading from the hooks, called xe2x80x9csnellsxe2x80x9d, are gathered into a device that contains a stabilizer and a spinner that reflects light to attract the fish to the bait. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,183, a spinner-type lure is disclosed wherein a rubbery casting, in the form of a frog, fish, lizard or worm, is impaled on a hook and the hook-bait body clipped to the aft end of a spinner where the spinner is located forward of and to the side of the body. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,875, a lure is disclosed that includes a small cage wherein fish bait, such as fish eggs, are confined and a hook is disposed to the rear of the cage so that when the cage is towed through the water, water flows into and out of the cage carrying the scent of the eggs into the water behind the hook. This flow of scented water attracts fish to the rear end of the cage where the hook is located to catch the fish when it bites at the cage. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,015 discloses another spinner type lure that has a spinner mounted forward of a housing that has a cavity formed in the rear end thereof for holding cheese-type material. A hook is located behind the cavity. Small holes in the sides of the housing allow water to flow into the cavity and out into the area surrounding the hook thus placing fish attractant next to the hook to lure the fish.
Each of these devices has serious limitations that have limited their use and acceptance in the fishing industry. One problem is with the intricacies associated with placing the bait on the hook or in the cage or cavity while in a boat or standing in a stream in weather that is less than perfect. A fisherman""s hands get wet and slippery from repeated dunking in the water or in releasing fish from the hook. Much fishing is done in inclement weather where the low temperatures make fingers stiff and slow to respond, thus making snapping and unsnapping the parts of a lure a difficult and a time-consuming operation. Further, as one gets older and eyesight begins to fade, there is a general slowdown in movement of fingers notwithstanding whether the weather is warm or cold. In addition, some bait cavities are not designed to retain the bait inside the cavity causing chunks of the bait to fall or wash out of the cavity to reduce the effectiveness of the lure. Accordingly, there is always a need for a better fishing lure that is easier to clean, more effectively holds the bait therein, and treats the bait more gently to allow it to last throughout the entire fishing operation.
Another problem is keeping the assembly of lure parts together under the stresses of casting the lure, reeling it through the water, and fighting a fish that has captured it. In each of these situations, great stress is placed on the lure, especially on the assembled parts and, especially in the case of lures having a center spindle on which many parts, such as beads, cavitated housings, and spinners are mounted. The assembly is usually held together with a strong mechanical fitting. Unfortunately, this strong fitting makes it difficult to disengage in order to repair the lure or to refill the cavity with fresh bait.
Further, in most cases, a detachable connection is formed in the wire spindle that includes a return bend spaced-apart from a right angle bend formed in the wire and closely coupled to a U-shaped snap or hamulus formed at the end of the wire where the shank, or segment of the wire between the return bend and the right angle bend, is aligned parallel and closely spaced to the main wire spindle. This configuration is most often used to capture the hook on the end of the lure, as seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,351,669; 1,522,451; 2,675,823; and 4,993,183. These configurations have not, to date, been used to solidify the assembly of parts of a lure and appear in the prior art to be only useful to capture a hook or other part of the lure and hold it in place. In addition, such a configuration, with its shank lying adjacent to and parallel with the central axis of the spinner, makes it difficult to open and close in cold, rainy weather due to the closeness of the shank to the main spindle wire.
In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,015, it is difficult to maintain the closing bead behind the cavity in a proper location, during slight tugs on the line, or when a fish is caught on the hook and is reeled on shore or into a boat, the cavity is subject to either being squeezed to a very small volume, thus expelling the bait, or to being opened such that the bait falls out. In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,875, the cage is completely unprotected and can be flattened by a fish during the strike so that the bait in the cage is totally expelled from the cage or crushed to such an extent that it washes through the holes in the cage. In some cases, it is difficult to open the small device to place more bait in the cavity or the cage. Further, these prior art patents allow only one end of the cage to be opened to clean out the cage of debris and to load new bait and require the use of a pick or other sharp object to be thrust inside the cage from the open end and used to dislodge any material remaining therein. It is most desirable to have the cage open at both ends for more easy cleaning, however, such a cage has yet to be developed.
This invention is a novel lure that overcomes the problems heretofore discussed and provides the fisherperson with a strong, long lasting, lure that holds bait in such a manner that it is not disturbed by the action of fish in biting or fighting. The artificial fishing lure of this invention comprises a front element, a rear element spaced-apart from the front element, a self-supporting hollow cage located between the front element and the rear element, the cage having a contoured outer surface and a hollow interior forming a cavity therein for carrying bait and further defined by a perforated wall throughwhich water may flow to carry the scent and taste of the bait into the surrounding water. A spindle having a straight first part is arranged to pass axially through the front element, the cage, and the rear element and to extend therebeyond, forming a means formed at one end for attachment to a fishing line, ahead of the front element, for drawing the lure through the water, and having a means formed at the opposite end thereof for attachment to a hook to the end of the rear element, wherein the spindle includes a return bend spaced-apart from an angled bend and a hamulus formed in the wire, and, in some cases, formed to pass along the outside of the lure components before clipping to the spindle to hold the assembled parts in close formation on the spindle. The hamulus is arranged to enter into disconnectible bias connection with the spindle at a position therealong to hold the front element, the rear element and the cage in aligned assembly.
The main benefit of this arrangement is that the spindle and the wire segment are separated by a space that allows easy access in pinching them together, especially in inclement weather, without fumbling with them which would happen should they be positioned closely adjacent to each other as in the prior art. Further, by opening only one clip, the entire lure can be disassembled yet retained on the spindle so that no parts fall off and that cold, stiff hands need only to place fresh bait in the cage, move the parts along the spindle close to each other, and then snap the hamulus over the spindle to lock the entire lure into proper assembly for instant re-use. Further, this arrangement allows both the front and rear ends of the cage to open to allow it to be flushed with water from either end and to be loaded with fresh bait from either end, a feat not possible with lures in the prior art.
In addition, the lure can be modified to allow placement of a spinner blade at various points along the spindle, to have the hooks replaced, and to be designed as a sinking lure, a floating lure, and a jig-type lure that may be easily bounced along the bottom of an ocean, a lake, river, stream etc.
The novel lure of this invention can be used as a deep water running lure or a floating lure by changing the density of certain parts in the assembly. Further, it can be made to dive below the surface of the water and return thereto by modifying the front portion of the lure. Still further, it can be made to pass at different depths of water by modifying the front portion and the overall weight of the lure. Finally, it may be designed to be used as a jig to be bounced from the bottom of the body of water upward a short distance and back down to the bottom by adjusting the spindle and the distribution of weight in the lure itself.
Accordingly, the main object of this invention is a lure in which fresh bait, such as fish parts, fish eggs, cheese, worms and other such attractants may be loaded and held therein, in a safe cage, while allowing turbulated water to pass over and/or through the cage and extract the scents and tastes from the bait to spread them into the water, enhancing the attractiveness of the lure to fish. Other objects of the invention include a lure that maintains the bait in a safe place, free from the dislodging effects of pulling the lure through water and/or fighting a fish that is hooked on the lure; a lure that contains a return bend-biased section of the central wire spindle that is spaced-apart from the main spindle and headed by a bend and a hamulus or hook arrangement for clipping back onto the spindle wherein the shank or segment portion between the return bend and the angled bend is designed to pass backward in spaced-apart arrangement from the return bend to make the two lengths of wire more easily pinched together to assemble and disassemble the lure; a lure that is held in full assembly on the spindle by the biased effect of the return bend, shank or segment, angled bend and hamulus combination so that when uncliped, the spindle is free to allow the components to slide therealong in aligned arrangement to free both the forward and rear ends of the cage so that it may be easily cleaned of debris and reloaded with fresh bait from either its front or rear ends.
These and other objects of the invention will become more clear when one reads the following specification, taken together with the drawings that are attached hereto. The scope of protection sought by the inventors may be gleaned from a fair reading of the claims that conclude this specification.